The 747 is big and flexible

 

Yes, the Boeing 747 is a big airplane. And because it is both big and reliable, it has been modified to do many amazing things. 

That's what this article is about.

Unusual Queens: Top 10 coolest special mission Boeing 747s

Read the article to see all of them; you can probably guess a couple without reading it. 

One of these missions is carrying the SOFIA telescope. SOFIA is the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, and having it on a plane high above the Earth is the next best thing to being in space.

The picture below shows the plane, the telescope, and a galaxy (M82) that's forming stars near its center, which is what galaxies do sometimes.  (I got the picture from here.)

After 921 flights (Wikipedia told that) the SOFIA mission ended and the plane was put on exhibit at the Pima Air and Space Museum near Tucson, Arizona (Wikipedia told me that, too). 

Monica Barbaro's career on the rise

 

I first noticed Monica Barbaro when she did a short guest star appearance on the one season show Stumptown (and it should have had more than one season). Then she showed up on Top Gun: Maverick as as the one female pilot (not a DEI hire, she could fly), and that also led me to the discovery of her unwatched action series with Arnold Schwarzenegger, FUBAR. 

Most recently, if you've been paying attention, she played Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown, and from most reports and critics, and the Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, did a really great effort. She's also prettier than the original Joan Baez, but I think Joan would still be the better songwriter/folk singer. 

But I digress, because this is all about the dress (that she wore to the premiere somewhere, somewhere being the premiere in London).

Monica Barbaro sizzles in a black plunging figure-hugging gown as she attends the premiere of Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown

Long cool woman in a black dress

Lighthouse of the Week, March 2-8, 2025: Hillsboro Inlet Light, Florida, USA

 

When I saw a couple of pictures of this lighthouse, I was very surprised I had not featured it before as a Lighthouse of the Week. I was fairly certain that I had covered most of the Florida lighthouses. But I was wrong, so this is the Hillsboro Inlet Light on Pompano Beach.

And that would be here.

So let's learn more about it, from my main go-to source, the Lighthouse Directory.

"1907. Active; focal plane 136 ft (41.5 m); white flash every 20 s (not visible from the land side). 137 ft (42 m) octagonal pyramidal skeletal tower with central cylinder; lantern and upper half of tower painted black, lower half white. The original rotating 2nd order Fresnel lens remains in use. One of only three surviving towers of this design. The original 1-1/2 story wood keeper's house and other light station buildings survive, but an assistant keeper's house was demolished in 2005 despite loud protests from preservationists." ... "The Fresnel lens was relit in August 2000 after much hard work to replace the rotating mechanism of the light. In 2003 the gallery was restored. In March 2012 a museum and visitor center for the lighthouse opened on the south side of the inlet in Hillsboro Inlet Park, and in May the Coast Guard repainted the lighthouse. Also in 2012 the Coast Guard asked for comment on whether the light should be extinguished to protect sea turtles nesting in the area. Comment was not favorable and the light remained in service. In September 2017 storm surge from Hurricane Irma partially undermined the foundation of the lighthouse; it was estimated that $500,000 would be needed to armor the site and repair the damage. In 2023-24 a project will replace windows, doors, and electrical wiring, and repaint the lighthouse. Located on the beach, protected by a riprap jetty, on the north side of Hillsboro Inlet."

I'm glad I got to it before it fell over.  Here's a picture of the lighthouse foundation after the storm.

The Hillsboro Lighthouse Preservation Society webpage has live views from the top of the lighthouse; that's new to me.  Click on "Cameras". 

I've got the pictures below, including the lens. As you might expect, there are other webpages out there in webland about this one.

 

So I saw this commercial ...

 

So I saw the commercial shown below on TV one day. 

I wasn't looking for new shoes, but I immediately noticed the comeliness (that's good looks) of the spokesmodel.  So I searched, and she wasn't difficult to find -- her name is Kenzie Harr. She has an Instagram account, a modeling page, and she's gorgeous.  

So I'm going to help out her career with the links to the Instagram page and the modeling page and two pictures that demonstrate the reality of my statements here. I've also included one picture that she posted showing she's gorgeous in just about every way.

The Block Agency - Kenzie Harr

Kenzie Harr - Instagram

How is that spelled again?

 

The Daily Mail is SO in need of a proofreader.  If they'd pay me just a modicum of as much as they're worth, I'd be glad to do it.

And the thing is, the missing letter is not really silent, but a lot of people forget that when they say it. And because they're so used to saying it wrong, they spell it wrong too.

Catch the drifting pole

 

This was all over the news a short while ago -- the Earth's northern magnetic pole position has been updated, and it is headed straight across the Arctic Ocean toward Siberia. 

It happens to be fairly close to the actual North Pole right now. So your compasses will work if you are trying to find Santa. However, be aware that the sea ice is getting thin, so don't fall through.

Earth’s magnetic north pole is on the move, and scientists just updated its position

"Since its discovery, magnetic north has drifted away from Canada and toward Russia. By the 1940s, magnetic north had moved northwest from its 1831 position by about 250 miles (400 kilometers). In 1948, it reached Prince Wales Island, and by 2000 it had departed Canadian shores.

“It has typically moved about 10 km (6.2 miles) per year or less over the last 400 years,” [geophysicist and geomagnetism researcher] Brown said.

However, the latest WMM update follows a period of highly unusual activity for the magnetic north pole. In 1990, its northern drift accelerated, increasing from 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) per year to 34.2 miles (55 kilometers) per year, Chulliat said. The shift “was unprecedented as far as the records we have,” he added."

The linked article has a video of the pole drift, but here's a motionless diagram.

 

The deep core

 

A world record ice core was drilled in Antarctica. This is just the beginning of the process of learning from it, but at least they got it. 

Antarctic Ice Core Unlocks 1.2 Million Years of Unbroken Climate History, Setting New Record

" “We have marked a historic moment for climate and environmental science,” said Carlo Barbante of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, coordinator of Beyond EPICA. The core was retrieved during the project’s fourth Antarctic campaign. “This is the longest continuous record of our past climate from an ice core, and it can reveal the interlink between the carbon cycle and temperature of our planet.”

Between 900,000 and 1.2 million years ago, glacial cycles shifted from lasting 41,000 years to 100,000 years—a shift known as the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. The Beyond EPICA project aims to better understand this ancient climate phenomenon."

Video about the project:

Where is Galiano Island?

 

I'm glad you asked that.  Galiano Island is an island near Vancouver, British Columbia.

Why do I bring this up?  Mainly because it has some interesting sandstone formations.

Exploring Sandstone Caves on Galiano Island

Apparently there are a couple of standouts, because this place (see below) gets photographed a lot. But I think there are some nice places to hike around.

I think that this might be the outside of the one above. Not sure, though.